Canada-based McCain Foods began construction of a US$32m frozen french fry factory in the northeastern city of Harbin. The 230,000 sq m plant will be McCain's first food processing plant in Asia outside of Australia. The company said it expects the plant, which is designed to produce 7.5 tons of french fries an hour, to begin operation in September 2005, when it begins shipping to both Chinese and export markets. McCain claims to be the world's largest maker of frozen french fries, producing one-third of world output.